Ambassador David Walker currently serves as Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the World Trade Organization. This is his third posting to Geneva. Between 2009 and April 2011 Dr Walker also served as New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the WTO and as Chair of the Doha Round negotiations on agriculture.

From 2012 to 2016 Dr Walker served as a Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with responsibility for the negotiation and implementation of New Zealand’s trade agreements, including as New Zealand’s Chief Negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. Dr Walker has also served as the Ministry’s Principal Economic Adviser, as New Zealand’s APEC Senior Official and as Deputy Chief of Mission to the United States, based in Washington DC. Dr Walker was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) in the 2016 New Year’s Honours list for services to the State.